Rightly or wrongly, Brent Sutter has long been regarded as a coach who prefers to put defence ahead of offence.
But here he is, just over a week into his second gig as the Red Deer Rebels bench boss, directing a team that has adopted a rather aggressive style of play.
“The guys seem to be enjoying the up tempo and attack game,” said Sutter, who has watched his club outscore opponents 12-2 and ring up a 3-0 record since he replaced Jesse Wallin as head coach last week.
“And yet they’ve been very well taught how to play the defensive side of the game, no question about that. They’ve been a well-coached team on that side of it.
“Now they need some confidence in regards to wanting the puck and being more offensive. It’s a mindset and I’ve said this before — your best defence is always your best offence, but it works the other way, too. When you have the puck more you spend less time in your own zone.”
To that end, Sutter and new associate coach Jeff Truitt have instituted a number of attack plays into practice sessions.
“No question, we’ve been working on a lot of different drills and different offensive plays,” said Sutter.
“We want to be a team that’s going all of the time, with pressure on the puck all over the ice. We want to be a pressure-type team. That’s just the way that myself and Jeff want us to play. We want to be more up tempo and more of a high energy, exciting type of team.”
To this point, who can argue with the plan? The Rebels are winning and looking good while doing so.
“It’s always nice when you win, but you have to keep things in perspective, too,” Sutter cautioned. “The reality is we have a lot of work to do. But it’s certainly gratifying to see the guys get rewarded for their work ethic over the last three games, for the way they played. It’s great for their confidence.”
l Charles Inglis seems mystified as to the reason(s) he was dealt from the Rebels to the Kamloops Blazers earlier this week.
Asked what happened in Red Deer, he replied to Kamloops Daily News sports editor Gregg Drinnan: “I’m not too sure. Brent said they were playing younger guys . . . I likely wouldn’t have played Saturday (in a 2-1 victory over the visiting Swift Current Broncos).
“I was doing my best and I worked hard. In Red Deer, I did everything they asked. I took on a leadership role . . . things just didn’t work out.”
Inglis was in the Blazers lineup on Wednesday as Kamloops fell victim to the goaltending of Regina rookie netminder Teagan Sachor and dropped a 2-1 overtime decision to the visiting Pats.
Inglis, 20, insisted he’s excited to be part of the Kamloops organization and will certainly be given every opportunity to succeed with the Blazers, his fourth WHL club.
“It’s pretty simple — we want him to be a good teammate,” Blazers general manager Craig Bonner told Steve Ewen of the Vancouver Province.
Bonner is also hoping that Inglis will at least help replace overage winger Jordan DePape, who recently retired from the game when informed that he needed season-ending shoulder surgery.
“We want him to play the way he plays, hard whistle to whistle,” added Bonner. “We don’t want him to be a distraction.
“We have chatted. We’ve been very clear about what the expectations are here.”
l There’s absolutely nothing special about the Brandon Wheat Kings’ specialty teams this season.
Heading into tonight’s game against the visiting Prince Albert Raiders, the Wheat Kings’ power play is 16th in the league with a success rate of 17.9 per cent, while the club’s penalty kill is dead last among the 22 WHL teams at 69.2 per cent.
“We’ve continued to work on it,” head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun.
“We’re trying some different personnel on it and I think it’s just a matter of we’ve got to outwork the opposition. We’ve got to execute our bread-and-butter plays, plays that we work at all the time. And we’ve got to get some shots and some people to the net and sometimes just find the hard-working goal on the power play instead of being picture-perfect.”